


Sympathy For The Devil

by BrightTerror



Series: BrightTerror's 2020 Whumptober [3]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Angst, Autistic Spencer Reid, BAMF Spencer Reid, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Gunshot Wounds, Hotch and Rossi are like his concerned parents, Hurt Spencer Reid, Hurt/Comfort, Pasta Dad is great in this, Rossi practially adopts Reid after one bad thing happens to him tbh, Set somehwere in season 4, Spencer Reid Whump, Whump, but hey what else is new, but really, cops are always causing problems for the bau, who wouldnt want to adopt Reid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:40:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26795992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrightTerror/pseuds/BrightTerror
Summary: An unsub storms into a police station with a grudge against an FBI agent and no desire to leave the place alive. Reid tries his best to save his team and gets hurt in the process.Whumptober day3. MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY (Forced to their Knees | Held at Gunpoint)
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner & Spencer Reid, Spencer Reid & David Rossi
Series: BrightTerror's 2020 Whumptober [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948378
Comments: 18
Kudos: 382
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Sympathy For The Devil

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first Criminal Minds fic, so I'm nervous yet excited to post! I hope you like it!  
> Thanks to the amazing @Klagreeves for helping me beta read this fic.

He was doing his dishes while the TV was turned on in the other room as background noise. He had just eaten a whole box of pizza and had spent his afternoon throwing darts at the picture of the FBI man he hated, so he was in a good mood. He was currently watering his plants as he heard the news report about the hunt for the latest kid serial killer, he always enjoyed hearing about this kind of stuff. It’s a wonder how much he could learn from them, thinking it was smart to learn from the mistakes others made so he would not commit them in the future - so he always had his ears out for local killers. 

_The suspect is a white male, early thirties, approximately five foot eight…._

The blonde girl continued giving the profile and he didn’t pay much attention to it until he heard another voice speak. 

_If you have any information, even if you think it is insignificant, please come forward. It could help us catch him before it’s too late. Be assured my team is giving their all. You can contact us through the phone number that is on the screen or call the police station. We will be there._

He dropped the plant on the floor and ran to the TV to confirm his suspicions. He knew that voice and he knew its owner. He wanted to kill that agent even if it was the last thing he did. 

He looked at the picture filled with darts belonging to David Rossi and smiled. He now knew where his nemesis was staying and working. It seemed his plans were going to have to move forward quicker than he expected. 

He smiled and got out his semi-automatic and handgun and drove to the police station. 

_______

The BAU had been called onto a case in Idaho to help catch a serial killer that was going after fathers and kids in pairs. It was a gruesome case, so the entire team was exhausting all of their energy and resources into catching this guy before he took any more lives. 

The team had been working on the case for two days. The first day Garcia was helping from afar at Quantico back in Virginia. Meanwhile, Morgan and Emily went to look at the crime scene to profile it. JJ was dealing with the media with the help of Rossi who was tagging along and Reid and Hotch were dealing with everyone else back at the precinct. Reid was doing the geographical map while Hotch dealt with the stubborn cops who didn’t like the FBI coming to help them. 

__________

Rossi and Hotch were currently helping Reid with the geographical profile at the precinct, meanwhile the rest of the team were running other leads and dealing with the victims’ families. 

“He only kills in his comfort zone, but that area is getting bigger with each abduction. He doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon or devolving.” Rossi pointed out once he saw Reid’s map. 

“Then we have to make him devolve. If we manage to send enough cops to the safety zone it might scare him into killing somewhere else and disrupting his pattern.” Hotch frowned. 

“His comfort zone revolves around areas that have parks, restaurants and schools nearby. A perfect place to find parents with their kids. If we tell JJ to instruct the media what to say we can reduce the amount of parents taking their kids to that area and on top of it have more cops on these areas.” Reid pointed out the three more concentrated points in the map and fidgeted his hands as he spoke. 

“That might be enough to get him out. He might devolve and up his killing spree, yet his margin for error will be bigger and that’s how we catch him.” Reid pursed his lips to the side and frowned as he looked at the map once more. “Actually... there might be another way to catch him without making him devolve. We should make him feel extra comfortable in his safety area. That way he might get cocky, lower his guard, and slip up. We have to make JJ tell the media the wrong profile, so he doesn’t think we are after him.” Reid rambled and after receiving a nod from Hotch he took out his phone to tell JJ about the new advances. 

Once he called and explained everything to her, he moved on to call Emily and Morgan to keep them updated too. When he finished, he returned to where Rossi and Hotch were - near the entrance serving themselves some more caffeine and getting an extra sugary coffee for Reid. 

That’s when a man - early forties, with a scruffy beard, messy hair, and a gun - walked in. Before anyone could shoot, the man pointed his semi-automatic at Rossi and Hotch. 

In a matter of seconds every officer in the room had his gun pointed at him. “Put the gun down! Hands in the air you’re surrounded.” They yelled. 

The man glared at them and shook his head violently. “Nuh, nuh no… You shoot me and I go out shooting with this beauty.” He touched his gun and smiled nervously at the rest. “I have a bulletproof vest on underneath so don’t even try to take a lucky shot or everyone will go down.” 

Reid gulped and gripped his gun firmly. He didn’t like the fact that the man was clearly going after his bosses and friends one bit. He immediately began to profile him to try and find a way to avoid any possible outcome that ended up with seeing his father figures shot in the face. 

“Now that it’s settled,” The man advanced towards Rossi and Hotch. “Drop the coffee and put your hands in the air. We’re going to chat.” His voice was filled with hate. 

Rossi tried to follow the conversation, keeping him going to prolong him pulling the trigger. “Chat about what? Listen, why don’t you tell us your name and what you want? We can work something out.” He tried to keep his voice from sounding judgmental or harsh. He had been in too many negotiations to get it wrong. 

“My name? You don’t remember me? _Agent_ Rossi?” The man shivered and clenched his jaw. “After all I’ve done to find you, after all the planning that I’ve done... You don’t remember the man whose life you ruined?” Each word dripped with hate and anguish. 

Rossi figured the man must have met him somewhere in the past but he couldn’t pinpoint where. He needed to remember who he was to be able to de-escalate the situation. Hotch knew all of this too, so he tried to speak to him. The man hated Rossi so maybe Hotch had a chance to get through to him. “Why are you here?” He hid his anger and faked the judgment-free interest in his voice. 

“Oh, you should know too, Aaron _Hotchner_. You both ruined my life 12 years ago! But fine, you want to know what I want? I want David Rossi dead. And you too if I can get my way with it.” He snarled. 

Hotch did the mental math. 12 years ago was when he and Dave first started working together, back in 1997. He was young and not as experienced as he was today, and he knew some cases didn’t end well… But he couldn’t pinpoint where the man holding a gun on him came from. 

The man must have sensed the hesitation of the two older men, and he was losing it. The fact that neither Hotch nor Rossi seemed to know him ticked him off. He had tears of anger in his eyes and held the gun tighter as he targeted them both. 

“Maybe you can tell me your name.” Reid couldn’t watch any longer and he interrupted with the first thing that came to mind. He made sure to appear non-threatening. 

The man turned his head to look at him, pointing his gun at Reid now. “What?” He fumed. 

“It’s unfair that they don’t remember you. They should have. What they did was impactful on your life and they should know about it already.” Reid gulped and put the stray hair at the back of his ear. “But, you can tell me... 12 years ago I was only 15 - a kid. I wasn’t even working here… So I don’t know who you are… but I want to help you.” Reid spoke clearly and tried to keep his posture. He needed to get through to this unsub, and he was doing it with empathy, like Gideon taught him. 

The man looked conflicted and hesitated. Reid saw that as a good sign. “What can I call you?”

The man stopped for a second and then answered. “Garret.” 

Reid was relieved. Garret was opening up and was becoming more concerned about his conversation with him rather than Rossi and Hotch. “Okay, Garret, why don’t you tell me what happened 12 years ago?”

“They murdered my big brother! He was all I had left, always had my back and they shot him.” he cried. 

Reid pretended to be horrified. It was the first rule to empathise with the unsub and make him believe he agreed with him. “Why would they do that?” 

“They murdered him! They came into our home and shot him in the chest. I saw him bleed out! That’s why they need to die.” He cried and changed the aim of the gun from Reid back to Rossi. “Leonard deserved better.” he whispered. 

Reid started darting his eyes around and his hands, he had heard those two names regarding a case before. “Garret, Leonard….” he connected all the dots and exclaimed. “You’re Garret Finley.” 

“You cannot know that.” That triggered something in Garrett, he looked back and forth between Rossi and Reid before taking his gun and aiming it at the rest of the police officers who had their guns pointed at him. “You, I want you on your knees and your hands on your head. I will go out shooting if you don’t.” he yelled and his hands trembled while he held his automatic rifle. 

The officers did as told. They could try and shoot him as many times as they wanted but knew his gun shot faster than theirs and the casualties would be high. 

Then Garret pointed the gun at Rossi and Hotch. “You! On your knees!” He ordered. 

“Garret-” Hotch began speaking but was shushed by the unsub. 

“You two don’t get to speak anymore. You had your chance.” Garret took the handgun he had with his spare hand and pointed it at them. “Time is ticking.” He prepared to pull the trigger. 

“Leonard was your twin brother. He was born a few minutes before you. Your family was middle class and you lived in a suburban area with both your parents.” Reid began to speak quickly to get the attention away from them once more. 

Garret turned around completely and was jittery and looked like he was close to losing it. “Get on your knees!” he yelled. 

Reid slowly knelt down and acted as calmly as he could given the fact the gun was only two feet away from his face. 

Garret relaxed a bit but was still jittery. “How do you know that?”

Reid licked his lips nervously before thinking of the best option. “I read it... I have an eidetic memory and I helped clear a few files a few years ago. Your file was in them.” He maintained eye contact with him. 

“No one can know that about me; only Leonard knew because he lived it!” Garret darted his eyes and he kept dripping sweat off his forehead.

“I know your mother was a workaholic that used alcohol as a way of calming herself every night after work, and your dad ignored you both more times than not. It was better when he didn’t give you attention rather than when he did. Right?” Reid spoke. 

“Yeah… my brother and I had each other, and we stuck together because of it.” Garret frowned and blinked the tears away. 

“Is that why when you murdered all those people you both look for victims that looked like your parents? Blonde men with green eyes and brunettes with blue eyes.” Reid raised an eyebrow. 

“Leo said he had to do it in order to be strong.” He pointed his gun closer to Reid’s head. “He said that way we could defend ourselves… We had to do it… That’s why I have to avenge him.”

Reid had to act quickly and get him to surrender. He was seeing the cops getting antsy and he knew he was a few minutes away from someone deciding to take a lucky shot and shoot it out, which would be a bad idea because he would most likely end up dead along with many others. “You really cared about him, huh? He sounds like he wanted the best for you…” Reid gulped. “Listen, Garret, if you want to make Leo proud you still have a chance.” He decided to go for his weak spot: his brother. 

“What do you mean?”

“He did all that for you, but he never made you kill, did he? He enjoyed the kill too much, right? You just helped him get the next person?”

Garret nodded and frowned. He didn’t understand where Reid was going with that conversation. 

“That’s why you didn’t get a life sentence. You were complicit to his murders but didn’t commit them. Now you are free from jail…” He licked his lips again since they were getting dry from the adrenaline and stress. “You haven’t killed anyone yet, Garret. You can still go back. Live a life he wanted…” Reid decided to bullshit his way through getting through to him. “Your parents are gone and you’re safe. You can stop this before it’s too late.” 

“But... I can’t... They killed him.” Garret hesitated. 

“Garret… Your brother had a gun pointed at Agent Hotchner, just like you right now... And he was going to kill him. Agent Rossi shot first so his partner wouldn’t go down. Wouldn’t you have done the same for Leo? It’s the same principal…” Reid sensed Garret was a rational man behind lots and lots of years of pent up grief and rage, so he tried to rationalise. 

Garret was quiet and tearing up, looking between Rossi, Hotch and Reid, trying to decide if he should pull the trigger. 

“Give me the gun, Garret. It doesn’t have to end badly… Jails are overcrowded and you didn’t kill people so they will let you out in less than a year, I estimate. Then this will be forgotten.” Reid coaxed him. He stood up carefully and inched towards the other man. 

Garret started crying and was handing his automatic rifle to Reid when a cop decided to play hero and in a matter of seconds, grabbed his gun to aim at the unsub. 

Reid saw it coming only milliseconds before and quickly sprung into action. He tossed the automatic rifle far away from his reach and tackled Garret to the ground as the gun fired. Seconds after the first cop fired, two other cops grabbed their guns and tried to apprehend Garret. 

Hotch and Rossi ran to where Reid was and tossed the handgun, that had fallen from Garret’s hand from the fall, away before he could grab it again. 

“What the hell was that?” Hotch demanded in his command voice, he glared at the officer that had taken the shot. 

“What? I had the shot, so I took it.” one cop smirked and shrugged. 

Hotch was about to rip the cop a new one when he heard Rossi call him in alarm. 

____

Rossi immediately helped Reid, who was sprawled on the ground next to Garret, while Hotch dealt with the cop that shot them as the others handcuffed Garret. He grabbed Reid’s shoulders to pull him up from the ground, and that’s when he saw the pool of blood starting to form. 

Reid winced and grabbed his arm as he tried to sit up. Rossi told him to stay put and called Hotch. “Aaron!” he said in alarm. Hotch was there a few seconds later. 

When the cop fired, the bullet managed to graze a good chunk of Reid’s arm. It wasn’t deadly but it would definitely take a few weeks to heal. Rossi had taken his suit jacket off and applied it to Reid’s arm for pressure. 

Hotch immediately wanted to call for an ambulance but Reid complained he was fine. He wasn’t going to bleed out and he told him they should go to the hospital in a car rather than an ambulance. Hotch didn’t like it but agreed, knowing Reid was stubborn to get his way on this one, and hung up his phone. 

“Fine, we can take the car instead of the ambulance but you and Dave go wait for me in the car, while I take care of this mess real quick. Are you sure you aren't going to bleed out?”

“The bullet didn’t actually hit me full force. It only grazed a side of my arm and didn’t hit any major arteries or veins, so as long as we get there in less than 30 minutes I should be fine.” Reid explained. 

As Hotch and Reid talked, Rossi applied pressure on his arm and simultaneously shouted at the cop that took the shot. “You absolute moron! Special agent _Doctor_ Reid had it under control and was diffusing the situation perfectly and you decide to try and save the day? You shot an FBI agent! What are you? An idiot?” Rossi was fuming. 

He had a lot of conflicting emotions going through him now. He had barely met Reid less than a year ago and they hadn’t started on the right foot. Rossi thought he talked too much and he wasn’t used to working with others as a team. He also was closed off, especially with Reid. However, in that short time the kid managed to worm his way onto Rossi’s heart and grow fond of him, as well as the others on the team. 

Despite this, Rossi didn’t show it. He still wasn’t too keen on letting people in and as far as he was concerned, Reid and him weren’t the closest but yet, when he was threatened by an unsub at gunpoint, the kid instantly placed himself in front of danger, to protect _him_ , and Hotch. He wanted to shrug it off and say it was to help Aaron or something, but the one Garret wanted to kill first was _him_. 

Rossi knew he had lost his internal battle of keeping himself emotionally away from his team members. He had lost it because he had already emotionally adopted them as his own. So, now, in these circumstances, he tried his best to keep it professional. But the truth was his kid was bleeding from a gunshot wound and it could all have been avoided.

He didn’t say anything else as he walked Reid to the SUV and they both sat in the back while they waited for Hotch to make sure the cops didn’t cause more problems while they were at the hospital. 

He put pressure on Reid’s arm and tried to make small talk to keep him occupied. “Kid, I know I’m famous, but you didn’t have to step in to save me.” He joked to try and make the ambience lighter. 

Reid stopped looking at the ground and stared at him with a frown and the biggest puppy eyes Rossi had ever seen. “You think I did it because you’re _famous_?” Reid tilted his head and blinked. He was in too much pain to pay attention to the tone and didn't understand it was a joke, so he answered seriously. “I’m an FBI agent and there was a hostage situation. It doesn’t matter if you’re famous or not I was not going to let you get shot if I could stop it.” Reid paused and moved his mouth to the side as he frowned. “Besides, don’t you think I would put myself in danger to keep my team safe? Rossi, you are part of my team - my family - and I care about you. I care about all of you.” He said it with such sincerity, it made Rossi’s heart ache. 

Rossi blinked a few tears away and had a strong urge to protect this man child no matter what. “Ay _cucciolo_ , we care about you so much.” He brought him into his arms to give him a hug, carefully, since he didn’t want to hurt his Injured arm and only let go when Hotch arrived at the car. 

“Sorry it took so long. I wanted to leave immediately but I had to deal with their mess.” Hotch said as he entered the car. “Reid, how are you holding up?”

“Im okay.. Hurts but I won’t die from it.” Reid cleared his throat and spoke softly. He was trying to keep his breathing normal to control the pain. 

“Dave? Everything okay?” Hotch looked at him through the rearview mirror as he drove to the hospital. He noticed Rossi looked different. Hotch was a profiler but so was Rossi so he knew how to avoid detection of emotions. That meant they couldn’t profile each other as well as the rest, yet Hotch still sensed something was off. 

“Everything is okay, Aaron... It’s been a long day.” Rossi assured him and started mentally planning a get-well-party for Reid once they got out of the case they were working on. Maybe he should buy him some of those first-edition books he liked too…

**Author's Note:**

> I really love Hotch and Rossi acting as worried father figures to the BAU so i decided to give it a go. xD  
> Please comment your thoughts! Makes me really happy to read what y'all thought of it. 
> 
> So, I'm participating in the whumptober challenge this year and will most likely write Prodigal Son and Criminal Minds the most for it. So if you like those fandoms you can subscribe to my BrightTerror's 2020 whumptober series!
> 
> I want to give a special thanks to @AppalachianApologies for brainstorming ideas for this and help me get this fic together and hyping me up to write and post. She is also doing the whumptober challenge and writes awesome CM fics so check it out!
> 
> If you want to come and chat find me on Tumblr as: @BrightTerror   
> Have an amazing day!


End file.
